Meeting of the Parliament 14 January 2016
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the debate on the Scottish Fiscal Commission, and commend the Finance Committee, which I have recently joined, the clerks and SPICe for all their work.
About one year ago, Scottish Labour set out its plans for and thinking on a Scottish office of budget responsibility: a truly independent body, with teeth, to ensure that we have greater transparency and scrutiny of Scotland’s public finances. The Finance Committee undertook a substantial inquiry, which has helped thinking in this area. I commend Kenny Gibson’s speech to the chamber. I am sure that he will not hear me say that that often, but I genuinely mean it.
I know that I keep saying this, but it is an exciting time in Scottish politics. We have substantial new powers coming over taxation and welfare, first from the Scotland Act 2012 and now from the Smith commission, whose recommendations are contained in the Scotland Bill 2015. No longer will we just spend what someone gives us, but we are charged with raising that spend. That brings considerable new responsibility. Taking away from ministers responsibility for being honest with the Scottish people about what the economy’s future holds and placing it in the hands of experts free of political manipulation is the right thing to do. That applies to Governments of all colours.
With the new powers coming, we need to know that a watchdog is holding ministers to account. The need for independent, reliable and impartial economic forecasting and analysis has never been more important.